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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
— General history
— J.F. “Pop” McKale
— The games
— Comparisons then and now
— Wildcats nickname
— Military service
— Rankings
— The players
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Clipping of actual L.A. Times article published Nov. 8, 1914
Excerpt from L.A. Times, Nov. 8, 1914, authored by Bill Henry:
“Arizona’s cactus-fed athletes, despite heroic efforts on the part of their two halfbacks, (Asa) Porter and (Franklin) Luis, went down to defeat before the Occidental Tigers yesterday afternoon, the tally with all precincts heard from being 14 to 0 in favor of the Tigers.
Confident of rolling up a big score, the Tigers took the field with grins on their faces, but before the game was 10 seconds old they knew they had a battle on their hands.
The Arizona men showed the fight of wild cats and displayed before the public gaze a couple of little shrimps in the backfield who defied all attempts of the Tigers to stop them.”This site will conduct a countdown in a 100-day period, leading up to Arizona’s 2014 football season-opener with UNLV on Aug. 29 at Arizona Stadium. The 100 Days ‘Til Kickoff countdown will include information daily about the historic 1914 Arizona team that helped create the school’s nickname of “Wildcats” because of how they played that fateful day against Occidental.
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The 19th and last quick player profile of the historic 1914 team:
Raymond Miller, only a freshman, was one of Arizona’s standouts in the Wildcats’ fateful game with Occidental in 1914
Raymond F. Miller
Freshman left tackle
Nicknamed “Pinky” during his one season with the Varsity. The 1914-15 Arizona yearbook The Desert” described Miller this way: “‘Pinky’ produced the goods at all times and the way he crippled Oxy’s giant Shipke will long be remembered.” Occidental’s Arthur “Battle” Shipke was a hefty (202-pound) junior tackle in 1914 who was an All-California selection.
“The Tigers found our line like a stone wall and even their old Battleship (Shipke) anchored at R. T. (right tackle) was shelled by our little demon ‘Pinky’ Miler, who, before the game ended, had vanquished Oxy’s pride,” the yearbook reads about the red-headed Miller.
Miller did not return to Arizona’s campus the following school year. No records for why he left, where he went and how his life unfolded could be found through research at this time.
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THE LAST WEEK IN THE SERIES:
— No. 32: Lawrence Richard Jackson, right end
— No. 33: Albert Condron, left tackle
— No. 34: Richard Meyer, quarterback
— No. 35: Harry Ellsworth Turvey, fullback
— No. 36: Orville “Speedy” McPherson, fullback
— No. 37: Turner Church Smith, left guard
— No. 38: Ernest James Renaud, fullback
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The 1914 Arizona football team that earned the honor of being named the first “Wildcats” was composed of (front row, left to right): Verne La Tourette, George Seeley, Leo Cloud, Richard Meyer, Asa Porter. Second row: Franklin Luis, Lawrence Jackson, Ray Miller, J.F. “Pop” McKale (coach), Turner Smith, Harry Hobson (manager), Orville McPherson, Albert Crawford, Ernest Renaud. Back row: Albert Condron, Emzy Lynch, Charley Beach, Vinton Hammels, Bill Hendry, George Clawson, Harry Turvey.
(AllSportsTucson.com graphic/Photo from University of Arizona Library Special Collections)
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What they were talking about on this day in 1914
Wednesday, July 29, 1914
The first test call is made on the newly completed transcontinental telephone line, taking place between New York and San Francisco. The last pole was erected and the line completed two days earlier on July 27, but commercial service did not start until Jan. 25, 1915. The sixth-month delay was due to AT&T’s wish to publicize the service in conjunction with San Francisco’s 1915 World Fair.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He also writes articles for Bleacher Report and Lindy’s College Sports.
